5. How Much Time Has Passed On Breaking Bad? (all spoiler-y)

Anyone want to figure out how much time passed in season 4? The general rule seems to be that each season takes about three months.

Season 1

So - Hank was dx'd with cancer

He goes with his DEA bro-in-law to watch a bust, sees Jesse, finds him later and threatens to turn him in unless they cook meth together. Walt steals equipment from the chemistry dept. at the high school where he teaches.

Jesse takes Walt's money to buy a Winnebago and blows most of it on strippers and champagne with Badger, Skinny Pete and Combo. But Combo helps him find a cheap one.

3 weeks later he's cooking meth in the desert in a Winnebago.
All the rest of this stems from the start of his meth work. Add three weeks to get the actual time that has passed.

1 week after that he's killed two people (one in the desert, one in the basement)

Hank finds a mask in the desert near a dealer's abandoned car. He traces it back to the high school. He finds some meth that's incredibly pure.

3 weeks after he started cooking meth, he's blowing up Tuco's office and has shaved his head to start his transformation to Heisenberg.

A month and a half after Walt started cooking meth, he sold his first big batch (made with the warehouse chemical theft) to Tuco.

The next week Walt and Jesse decide to poison Tuco with ricin - because he's following them - and he's batshit crazy.

Season 2

About a week later, Tuco kidnaps Walt and Jess to take them to Mexico.

2 months and a few days after Walt started cooking meth, Hank killed Tuco (after Walt and Jesse tried to poison him - and met Hector) Hank and the DEA, we found out, had an informant in Tuco's organization - Krazy 8 - who's been missing for, oh, a couple of weeks.

Hank interrogates Jesse about Tuco (because Hank found Tuco while looking for Jesse while looking for "disappeared" Walt - who, with Jesse, was being held hostage by Tuco.)

2 months and a week or two... Jesse moves in next door to Jane. He and Walt start cooking again and develop a distribution network made up of Badger, Skinny Pete and Combo.

Combo, working in Gus territory, gets the long goodbye.

2 months and a week or two... Walt and Jesse meet Saul. He knows a guy...who knows a guy...who knows a guy.

3 months after he started cooking meth, Walt meets up with Gus to find a distributor.

I assume that, around this time, Gale is receiving equipment and he samples Walt's meth and tells Gus it's better than he (Gale) can do.

4 months after he started cooking meth, Walt makes his first sale to Gus and Skylar gives birth. Jane dies.

Nearly 5 months after Walt started cooking meth, Skylar finds out. She tries to kick him out when Holly is 7 weeks old. Walt won't go, but he stops cooking. Shortly after, she starts boinking Ted in retaliation. She recovered from childbirth pretty quickly...just saying.

Jane's father sends Walt a teddy bear.

Season 3

Soon after, Jesse goes into rehab and that's where we find him a few weeks later.

And Tuco's cousins start the trek from Mexico to kill Walt because Hector wants revenge (they arrive about three months after Tuco was killed.) Gus puts them off. Then gives them permission to go after Hank, instead, after a month.

5 or so months after Walt started cooking meth, he is working with Gale in Gus' fancy lab.

A little over 5 months after Walt started cooking meth, Hank figures out Jesse owns the "alleged" meth van. Hank beats the bejesus out of Jesse...gets suspended... And Hank gets shot by Tuco's cousins.

...and Walt asks Jesse to come back to work with him in the lab. Gale leaves... maybe he goes to Thailand for some karaoke.

The Federales go after one of the cartel leaders - or who knows who that was, exactly. Own goal?

Jesse finds out who killed Combo after he attends rehab after hours.... And goes after them. Walt tries out the 4wd on the Aztec.

Jesse goes into hiding cause Gus wants him dead.

Gus asks Gale if he can do the cook. Walt decides to make himself indispensable. But Jesse has to make it happen. Gus wants them both dead, now.

"Major Tom" makes his last blast off.

Season 4

About 6 months after Walt started cooking meth, and about one month after he's been cooking for Gus, Gus starts monitoring his every move. On camera.

Jesse starts a three-day party, and then another one.

And into the 6th month -

Hank is in PT at home. Collecting rocks... minerals! Marie starts to pick up information about houses for sale. Hank's old friend gives him Gale's lab notes.

The cartel is attacking Los Pollos Hermanos trucks.

Mike gets Jesse out of the house party.

The cartel wants a sit down. It doesn't sit right with Gus.

Some guy (must be related to Dewey Crowe...) just wants TUCKER!

So, now at about the 7th month mark -

Walt moves back in with Skylar and they buy the car wash after they tell Hank and Marie about Walt's gambling addiction. Walt finds out about Hank's investigation of Gale's murder.

The cartel sends a sniper to say hello. Gus agrees to their demand.

Walt convinces Jesse to put ricin in Gus' food after attempts to go to Gus' house to shoot him, or go to Los Pollos to shoot him don't work out.

Jesse goes to Mexico with Mike and Gus. Gus takes out the rest of the cartel leaders for a nice bottle of Tequila.

In the meantime, Hank has figured out that Gale was a vegetarian but liked Colonel Sanders Fring (or whatever his real name is.)
And Hank starts surveillance of Gus' businesses. Luckily google maps didn't show Walt and Jesse's cars parked there everyday. Gale got his equipment from Madrigal. Madrigal also owns Los Pollos Hermanos.

So into 8 months...

Ted writes a check to the IRS and goes skating. At least he's not kiting.

Walt begs Jesse not to cook without him because Walt and Gus just don't work well together and have a problem solving conflicts. Walt doesn't want to get laid out.

Jesse just isn't that into Walt with the months of insults and hurt and the big mess that Walt brought into Jesse's life when Walt threatened to turn Jesse over to the police those many months ago. But he won't agree to getting rid of Walt with Gus.

Hank has gotten too close to Gus. Gus' story is good - but inconsistent with his i.d. as a DEA supporter. Hank can't make his case with his co-workers but he's not going to stop looking at Gus.

Gus tells Walt he's going to kill Hank and if Walt interferes, Gus will kill all of Walt's family. Walt goes to Saul for a new identity. He finds out Skylar used their funds to pay off the IRS for Ted so Walt doesn't have the money to buy a new identity for his family.

Walt tells Saul to tip off the DEA about the hit on Hank. Marie insists Walt's family join them. Saul tells Jesse that Gus has threatened Walt's family.

Brock gets sick and Jesse assumes it's because of ricin. First he thinks Walt did it, but Walt reminds Jesse that Gus was the one willing to use kids. So, they put a bomb under Gus' car. Gus was there to tell Jesse to get back to work because he can't afford the down time on an expensive operation. But Gus' fringey sense went off with his talk to Jesse about Brock's poisoning and he avoided the trap Jesse and Walt had set for him.

Walt visits Hector and talks about old times.

Tyrus sees Hector meet with Hank - Tyrus has been tailing Hank. Jesse gets kidnapped and taken back to the lab to work.

Gus decides that today might just be the day after all.

Hector agrees.

Walt goes to the lab to get Jesse. They set the lab on fire.

Jesse finds out Brock is going to survive - he was poisoned by a common garden plant, not ricin (which is actually from another common garden plant, too, but not when it's processed and packed into a cigarette.)

Walt checks in with his family. Gus is gone.

The White family garden is lovely this time of year.

So... we're somewhere around the 8/9 month mark.

EDIT to add: with a spoiler - Apparently season 5 starts with Hank's 52 birthday - so that would seem to mean that earlier in season 5 - all the PT time and Jesse going off with Mike and Walt cooking alone took place over a few months to get to the 12 month mark in the show. oops. make that a flash forward to one year from the beginning of Season 5.